Summary"Ghost therapist" Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) and his daughter Kat (Christina Ricci) arrive at drafty, old Whipstaff Manner. Its greedy owner, Carrigan Crittendon (Cathy Moriarty), has hired Dr. Harvey to exorcise the house's apparitions: a friendly but lonely young ghost named Casper, who's just looking for a friend, and his outrage...
Summary"Ghost therapist" Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) and his daughter Kat (Christina Ricci) arrive at drafty, old Whipstaff Manner. Its greedy owner, Carrigan Crittendon (Cathy Moriarty), has hired Dr. Harvey to exorcise the house's apparitions: a friendly but lonely young ghost named Casper, who's just looking for a friend, and his outrage...
Casper often resembles a blueprint for the next Universal theme park ride, but it serves well as the summer's first family treat. This movie should make children happy, at least for another month, until Disney unleashes its Pocahontas punch. [26 May 1995, p.10]
Like The Flintstones and The Addams Family, Casper is an attempt to bring cartoons to life while incorporating them with real actors and sets. As a technical achievement, it's impressive, and entertaining.
Great Movie With Various Perspectives
After reading the comments, I see most people enjoy this movie with a few picking it over nothing (e.g. Not an accurate portrait of ghost?). I first saw the movie in my preteen. It was a fun & 'cute' movie, highly entertaining with the trio & treasure hunting & stuff.
As I grew older & revisit this movie, I see more 'layers' of the movie other than a 'kiddie ghost story'. Dr. Harvey (Bill Pullman, excellent as usual) is having a hard time dealing with the death of his wife, & Kat (Ricci, a great break from the cool-headed Wednesday Adams) is having a hard time adjusting her father's constant move as well as grieving her mother on her own. Then, there is Casper grieving his own death as well as his father's death. And then there is Carrigan's mourning her father... not leaving her all the riches. Then there is Casper's heroic act (go see the movie, it's one of the most touching moment), Dr. Harvey's reunion, etc. Etc.
From a child's point of view, it's pure entertainment. From an art lover's point of view, you have to awe at the special effect & sets. From an audience seeking emotional outlet, well, bring in an extra box of kleenex. It's a very touching, warm-hearted, humorous, sweet little movie about a friendly ghost named Casper.
Just a side note, it is quite interesting to watch Addams' Family & Casper & Sleepy Hollow & see Christina Ricci grow from the eccentric Wednesday Addams to a regular teenager Kat Harvey to a beautiful young lady Katrina Van Tessel.
Certain films earn our affection for the quality they have, others for the visual beauty and the grandeur of the technical means used… others, like this film, conquer their place by the way they touch us. I may not be the only one who saw this movie as a child and now feels some nostalgia and affection to see it again.
The film hardly needs any introduction, telling us the story of Casper, a ghost who settled in the land after dying very young, and haunts his old house in the company of three uncles, who are the real terror of the region. The house's fate seems sealed when it ends up in the hands of an ambitious heiress, eager to demolish it and get hold of a treasure she thinks is hidden there. Unable to make it thanks to the ghosts' efforts, she decides to call an expert, Dr. Harvey, to get them out of there. It's precisely what Casper wanted most, as the academic travels with a teenage daughter he fell in love with when he saw her on television.
The film isn't brilliant, it's not meant to be. It is not an award winner, nor will it give us the dramatic life performance of any of the actors involved. It is simply a family film, aimed at younger people, but which also knows how to please adults, and which, despite its age, remains fresh and current today. For me, who saw it as a child, it will always have a corner in my video library.
The film was the first to make live actors act opposite characters entirely made by computer graphics, and from that point of view it was a pioneering film. However, Casper, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso are characters in their own right and their voices were lent by a group of good actors: Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, Brad Garrett and Malachi Pearson. They are the soul of the film and steal our attention whenever they are present. The young Christina Ricci, in one of the early career jobs, also shows unmistakable signs of talent. Bill Pullman is effective, convincing and entertaining in his role, Eric Idle is very funny, and Cathy Moriarty is very good as a villain.
Technically, it's an effective movie. As I said before, it excels in its pioneering use of fully CGI characters, and the visual, special and sound effects used are really good, and they seem convincing even after twenty years. Cinematography doesn't surprise us, but it doesn't disappoint either. The pace of the film is regular, fast and fun, as it should be, and all the sets and costumes are very good, in particular the magnificent Whipstaff mansion, which would become iconic thanks to its Art Nouveau design, worthy of the best ideas of Antoni Gaudí. The film's music is ensured by the ever-reliable James Horner.
An intimate and likeable picture. As a part-animated live-action movie, it harks back to less frenetic kids' fare from the '60s like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, rather than, say, the 'toon-laden Roger Rabbit.
What’s depressing about the current Hollywood mania to literalize old cartoon series isn’t that a show like Casper is such bad source material. It’s that the movie version is like the cartoon without innocence — a fairy tale with the soul of a rerun.
I was unsure about it at first, how could they possibly redo Casper in a live action and make it seem like the childhood Casper people grew up with, but they did it. Loved it, recommend this for Casper fans everywhere.
It shouldn't be too bad, but something is missing." Something that would be a strength to reach "very interesting.
One of the drawbacks would be that the characterization is too blatant: the three ghosts are depressing and Carrigan is a jerk. There are jerks in the school. The characters are depressingly obvious. Too much so. It's a good thing they didn't add any more nasty villains. These characters do some interesting things, but frankly, they are a pain in the ass.
The one flaw I can say is the storyline as well. I thought it was a good theme, a good story, but it takes Casper's inspiring story in a different direction. Despite the great theme of friendship between Kat and Casper, the story is taken in a more sci-fi direction. It's for kids, so it's packed with a lot of elements to keep them interested. It's not bad, but it won't make the movie any more interesting.
In the end, the movie is enjoyable all the way through, but you can't shake the impression that there are a lot of unnecessary elements.